During IEM Katowice 2024, Players correspondent Denis D3str0_o Zabarny recorded a short interview with white.market CEO Oleksandr Shapoval, where he asked about the profitability of the skins market, the most expensive skin in the personal collection and cheering for Ukrainian teams at the tournament.
How profitable is the CS market right now, with the release of CS2 and the collapse of the skins market?
I would say yes, the skins market is not super profitable or high margin, but it’s interesting. I'm in the spirit, because I have been playing CS for many years. I like the skins, I like to trade them, I have experience where you can trade one battered Glock-18 to five knives.
Are you currently focused completely on CS, or are you moving into other disciplines as well?
No, we are not looking at other disciplines yet, if something appears, we will of course be on trend and react to the market.
What is the volume of the skins market in Ukraine now? Do we have any super collectors?
In Ukraine, there are a lot of skilful traders who collect rare knives and have a large amount of knives. In this regard, Ukraine is highly developed, it is one of the top countries in terms of skin markets.
What is the most expensive skin on white.market right now?
Probably some kind of Doppler, it costs about $10,000. Such skins, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, are not sold in markets, and we will not allow them to be sold there.
What is your personal most expensive skin right now and what you had before?
Now I have the most expensive M9 Doppler. Of the ones I had, the most expensive is the AK-47 Gold Arabesque Factory New.
Give some advice to Ukrainian traders-beginners, from your experience.
If you play the game, you understand it, you understand which skins are popular, how they look in the game, which of them are the most beautiful, what can be bought, what can be sold later. This is my simplest advice - play the game and understand it.
What are your personal predictions regarding the movement of the skins market?
It is difficult to make any predictions, because it’s a very dynamic market. But of course, everything that shines very brightly will become more expensive.
Why did you decide to open the white.market stand at the IEM Katowice Expo? How difficult was to do it?
It’s a difficult and long way, which we planned for almost six months. If we start from the idea, then it is almost a year. How did we get to this idea? We know that the audience in Katowice loves CS and will be interested in participating in CS activities, watching skins, and maybe winning some skins.
Who did you cheer for at the tournament?
In general, I was cheering for our boys – Monte and NAVI. It's a pity that we didn't see them in the final.
